Rich.

Every day I drive in my car to work, which takes about 40 minutes, give or take, and I think of things to blog about. For some reason, those ideas never come to fruition. Today is a new day. :)

I decided to call this post "Rich" not because I feel monetarily rich (although compared to most of the world I am quite rich), but because this past week has just felt, well, rich. Allow me to explain.

Last Sunday, my pastor gave a message that speaks right to my heart. It was called "The Church Crosses All Barriers." He used the the verses from 2 Corinthians 5:17-20. The one that struck me the most last Sunday was this, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconcilation;" My pastor said, "We are to reconcile the situations that God puts us in. That is JUSTICE." All this brought me back to my trip to Jackson, MS a few years ago, and I just smiled, and thanked God for placing me in a church where things like this are talked about.

Later on Sunday, I had the opportunity to hang out with a new friend from my church. We had lunch, coffee, and then joined some other friends for "The Hunger Games" later that night. Again - I just felt rich in the sense that the conversations I got to have made me feel full, made me feel blessed, made me want to be a better person. To me, that is rich.

Monday evening I had a similar experience feeling blessed by a conversation. I go to have dinner with one of my best pals, Megan Zwier. She is deep in the midst of writing her thesis for grad school, so the fact that she could carve out a dinner date with me is special in and of itself. Megan inspires me to be a better person too. Her thesis is really a handbook for teachers that promotes Environmental Education. I won't go into all the details, but Megan is a forward-thinker, and I appreciate that so much about her.

Tuesday evening I helped at youth group. Our numbers have been a little low these past few weeks, but we always have a good time. We have been discussing lyrics to popular songs, and how those lyrics affect our lives. This past Tuesday we talked about one of my favorite songs, "Firework" by Katy Perry. Fact: my pastor who preached that amazing message on Sunday about reconciliation is the same guy who talked at our youth group on Tuesday. So you can imagine it was pretty awesome. :)

Wednesday evening was another rich experience. I went to small group with a bunch of people who are like family. I am telling you, we can laugh like it's no one's business. And we do. We pray for each other, read the Word together, take care of each others' kids, and just have a good time. I feel rich because I am a part of this group.

Thursday evening I had coffee with a friend from my small group. I wish you could all meet her. She has a heart of gold, in fact, her heart is mostly focused on Kenya, and she dreams of going there every single day. She is the Children's Director at my church, and she is one of the most fun and loving people I have ever known. On Thursday evening, we shared stories, laughed, and talked about relationships. I feel rich because of those converstations. At the end of the evening (4 hours later....NO JOKE), she prayed for me.

Friday all day I basically had no voice. I guess I was "teaching too hard" this week (or perhaps it was all the rich conversations?), so I opted to hang by myself and rest my voice in the evening. My good pal Megan (from Monday night) suggested I listen to a 4 part sermon series on Love, Sex, and Dating. I listened. I cannot say enough good things about this series. Go listen to it for yourself at the website for North Point Community Church. It is geared toward single people, but it might make married people laugh a few times, so it is worth a listen.

Saturday is always a day of bliss for me. I get to sleep in, have a leisurley breakfast, go to the gym, hang out, etc. Yesterday I didn't really have anything planned except to rest. I got a call from a former student and friend, Jordan. She was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by to hang out for a bit. Again, I am richer because I hung out with this precious girl. Jordan is a senior in high school, and has an incredible love for Jesus. Jordan is up for anything, so when I told her I needed to run to FedEx to pick up a package, she was game. Problem: FedEx was hard to find. I drove around thinking I knew where I was going for a long time, when finally Jordan said, "Do you have a smart phone with GPS?" I thought for a moment and said, "I don't know. Here, you check." Lo and behold - my phone has GPS. It will probably cost me tons of money next month...but it got me to my very hard-to-find destination. Funny side story: the GPS said to turn left into this industrial building parking lot. I did, and then it said (in a cool accent) "You have arrived at your destination." Problem...we were at the Metro station, NOT FedEx. Um...Jordan and I looked at each other and just laughed and laughed. Turns out the FexEx was across the street in the OTHER industrial building parking lot. After a lot of laughs, we found it. Thank goodness.

Now it is Sunday morning. I got a good night's sleep, I am sipping my coffee (from Nicaragua....thinking of Joel, Lora, and Beto....I am going in a week!!!), and I feel rich. I feel rich because of the conversations and lessons I learned over the past 6 days, and I feel rich because I know that God has so many more in store for me in the next 6 days.